Monday, October 28, 2013

The Nightmare by Lars Kepler





Why I read this book?  

This is the second book starring detective Joona Lina. I really enjoyed the Hypnotist and I was looking forward the second installment of the series.  Also it makes part of my Sequel Challenge.

What's the book about?


Once again, inspector Joona Lina is confronted by a series of unusual murders. It is more of a police thriller than a noir novella though, and readers should be warned that the darkness present in the first book is almost completely gone in this one.

What about the main character?


In this matter, the story is consistent with the first book. Joona is still a very bright detective, capable of seeing the disconnected dots better than anyone. His personal live is a bit in shambles, but as he did in the first book, this will not affect his prior compromise to solving the crime.

Final thoughts

I was SO disappointed at this book. I gave a 5 to The Hypnotist, and it kept me in the border of my chair, wondering what new dark twist would be ahead. I've really enjoyed the books of Camilla Läckberg and off course Åsa and Stieg Larsson so I thought this sequel would keep the same line of a noir novella I so enjoy.

At a certain point I thought they were going to start using the nightmares as a psychological tool, now is going to get dark...it didn't.

I was also looking forward to more music related drama, since the name in Swedish makes reference to Paganini. There was some mention...but once again I was disappointed with this aspect.

The book is not bad, as a crime thriller I enjoyed it, is just that I was expecting a different type of story. If I remove my expectations, the book is good, is entertaining. I think there are some weird moments probably related to the translation, but since my Swedish is nothing more than under basic, I do not feel like I have the right to criticize this part. 


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